a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to snare drums, and particularly to a mechanism and design for attaching snare wire(s) in a manner to protect the snare wire(s) from damage. More particularly, the present invention provides a snare drum design which prolongs the useful life of snare wires by reducing frictional resistance on the snare wires.
b) Description of Related Art
Snare drums are percussion instruments having several gut, nylon, wire or wire-covered silk strings, called snares, stretched across the lower, or snare, head. The snares vibrate sympathetically with the lower head to which vibration is transmitted from the upper or batter head by air vibrations inside the drum. Vibrations of the snares cause a snappy, penetrating relatively high-pitched sound. The modern snare drum has a cylindrical shell of wood, plywood, or metal 3.5-12 inches high and 10-16 inches in diameter. Deeper models called field or guard's pattern drums are used in many military bands. The heads, beaten with two tapered wooden sticks ending in small knobs, are of calfskin or plastic. They are held in place by a flesh hoop around which the membrane is lapped and a counterhoop. Membrane tensioning is by screws that act independently on each head by metal rods, or, now chiefly in military bands, by rope lacings.
In conventional snare drums, a strainer 40 is mounted to the drum shell for applying strain or tension to snare string 28, or releasing tension and allowing snare string 28 to fall away from the snare head 18. The snare string 28 typically extend from the strainer through a snare gate formed with at least one aperture 30 passing through the snare rim 22. See FIG. 1 for an illustration of the major components of a snare drum.
Conventional snare drums however suffer from deterioration of the snare string 28 as a result of wear on the snare gate or the apertures 30. Tension causes unwanted wear and eventual failure of the snare string 28. This unwanted wear is magnified by the constant adjustment of the snare tension by the strainer 40.
The need therefore exists for a snare drum design which reduces or eliminates this unwanted wear on the snare string 28, and particular for a snare gate design which does not negatively impact the snares during use.